Web servers manage information spaces having resources, such as text, images and multimedia, identified by identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (“URI”), which provide a simple structure for access these resources. The Worldwide Web (“WWW”) is a global information space that is widely known, but web servers are also part of private networks and various types of file systems. The Personal computers, such as desktop and laptop computers, utilize a client application, namely a web browser, to display and interact with the resources of the web servers. The web browser provides a user with access to web pages of web sites managed by web servers, and each web page may include one or more hyperlinks to other web pages at the same or different web sites. Web browsers provide computers with the capability of traversing these hyperlinks, thus facilitating access to the information of the web servers.
Many mobile communication devices, such as cellular phones, personal WiFi communicators, and web-accessible consumer devices, include web browsers, and have the capability of traversing hyperlinks of web pages managed by web servers. On the other hand, mobile communication devices typically have diminutive form factors in order to be conveniently portable, i.e., easily placed in one's pocket and/or operated in one hand (or perhaps two hands for larger units). As such, mobile communication devices have displays with smaller dimensions relative to personal computers. For example, in contrast to a notebook computer, a cellular phone may be carried in one's pants pocket and operated for web browsing in one hand, but the resolution of a cellular phone display is typically a fraction of the resolution of a notebook computer display. Thus, web pages designed for viewing on a personal computer will probably be wider and taller than the display dimension and resolution of a mobile communication device, particularly if the web pages are to remain readable on the display.
To compensate for the smaller dimension and resolution of its display, a mobile communication device may include a customized web browser to facilitate traversing hyperlinks of a web page designed for viewing on a personal computer display. For example, some web browsers include a panning mode in which directional selections of a keypad would direct the content to scroll in the direction corresponding to the keypad selection. When a desired hyperlink is spotted, the user operates other keys or manually changes the mode of the same keys to select the desired hyperlink. Other web browsers include a link navigation mode in which keypad selections would allow the user to jump from hyperlink-to-hyperlink. In addition to the hyperlinks of the web page shown on the display, the web browser may jump to other hyperlinks not shown on the display until the web browser jumps to the hyperlink. Still other web browsers include a page reduction mode in which the entire web page is shown on the display, but content is not shown in detail and hard to view. From the birds-eye view, the user may select the portion of the web page of interest and, in response, the web browser will jump to this selected portion and enlarge it to its normal detailed view. Thereafter, the user manually selects the desired hyperlink in the selected portion.
Existing web browsers, such as those described above, require navigation on a web page that can be cumbersome and take several key strokes to get the section/link desired by a user. Thus, there is a need for a mobile communication device that facilitates browsing web pages for accessing information of web servers by minimizing the number of key strokes required to traverse hyperlinks. A mobile communication device may facilitate web browsing by automatically selecting the optimal mode for viewing web pages, thus minimizing the need for a user to select the appropriate viewing mode.